This invention addresses the ability to use convenient tools to cut decorative molding for inside room borders; stair tread metal molding to create angled or straight cuts; Baseboard decorative molding that covers floor transitions between walls and floor material (providing a decorative border instead of an edge that reveals the cut borders of wall and floor, or wall and ceiling), and, but not limited to, other repetitive or complex cutting operations for various materials.
Currently, the most common way to cut such material is to use a MITER SAW which is a special saw that usually has a 10 inch blade, has a platform on which you place the material to be cut, horizontally, against a rail, and then the 10 inch blade can be powered on, and pushed down onto the material, cutting it either at a 90 degree edge, or at other desired degrees of cut. This tool weighs about 50 pounds, is hard to move around, and with its powerful motor and blade, creates extensive dust, and it is difficult to prevent this dust from dissipating throughout the room (the unit has a lot of power because it is designed to cut across construction beams that are 2 inches by 4 inches, all the way up to 2 inches by 12 inches. Some units are designed with the motor/blade combination attached to sliding tracks, to allow even greater reach, to cut even larger pieces.
The MITER SAW is one of the most common methods used to do such cuts. However, this unit has disadvantages, because it is difficult to move, and sometimes is sold on a wheel based rack system, to allow for movement, but it is still difficult to move to the exact location of where you are working, due to its bulky nature, its dust creation, etc. This is not as problematic in a new construction site, where there is not finished furniture, clean rugs, livable space, but in an existing habituated home, where remodeling is being done, to add custom décor to a living area, this tool can wreak havoc with its dusty byproducts, and with its bulky size. Another disadvantage of a Miter saw is that for smaller items, the commonly issued cutting blade has cutting teeth that are too far apart, and they damage the wood edge, so a special expensive blade has to be purchased, and added to the machine, to cut down on edge damage. But this blade is slower cutting in larger material, so a contractor has to constantly switch blades to accomplish various tasks, and that requires a special wrench, and loss of time.
Another tool for such tasks is a TABLE SAW. This has the blade protruding up out of the table, the motor is below the table, and the material can be pushed into the blade, allowing for easier visibility. However, its disadvantages are the same as the miter saw, due to blade size, and amount dust created, due to lots of air from the motor running and the blade turning.
Another tool is a RADIAL ARM SAW. It has a movable motor/blade, on a swinging arm; (and some MITER SAWS with their rails are like a smaller version of a RADIAL ARM SAW). It makes objects easier to cut, since the object is against a rear fence/rail, like the MITER SAW, and the blade can be moved with one hand. But this has the SAME DISADVANTAGES as the miter saw, such as size, dust, lack of portability.
A better tool for cutting detailed corners or crosscuts for decorative molding is a JIG SAW. This is a hand-held motorized saw, with a blade that protrudes from the bottom, and the blade goes up and down, as you push across the top of the material to be cut. The motor and saw action is not as powerful as the above mentioned saws, and this is an advantage. Its smaller size, and smaller, stick-type blades, do not blow dust over an expansive area. This dust can be confined. Being smaller, and hand-held, the JIG SAW is able to be taken closer (or exactly) to where the material being cut is to be installed, thus saving time by not having to go to a central staging/cutting area, where the prior mentioned saws would be set up. Most JIG SAWS have a variable-speed trigger, thus allowing a more controlled cutting of the material being worked upon. It is easier to work on the long pieces of molding, for ceiling, flooring, etc. The pieces to be worked upon are many times very long, but only the ENDS of those pieces need cut, where they will be mated or joined to adjacent pieces, or a corner area, etc. So having the advantage of a more portable saw is beneficial.
However, a DISADVANTAGE of the Jig Saw by itself is that the person works from the top of the machine, holding the handle, and the material being worked with is below the saw platform, thus partially obscuring the measurement marks for cuts, and there is not a perpendicular (or other angled) rail against which the object to be cut can be positioned, the person has to set up a work spot to stabilize the pieces to be cut.